Round-up: Raised Beds, Resignation and Taxi Ranks

July 13th 2011

ELDC considers the future of the Town Hall

East Lindsey District Council is asking for expressions of interest in Louth from anyone interested in taking over the Town Hall under a Community Asset Transfer arrangement. This would mean the hall could be handed back to local ownership if ELDC approve the application and business plan. Anyone interested should contact Gary Sargeant or Alison Penn at Tedder Hall.

The Gatherums raised beds

The Gatherums community food garden continues its inexorable triffid-like growth with another meet on Thursday at 4pm to install new raised beds. The Transition Town Louth food group will be installing three beds in the park for strawberries, salad and vegetables, and then planting them out on Sunday, 17th July. It's part of the Seed2Plate campaign funded by ELDC.

Council News

Councillor Thomas Nelson-Smith resigned from Louth Town Council on Tuesday night. The former councillor has been notable by his absence from several regular meetings, so this move did not come as a big shock to anyone involved with the town council.

The council held a minute's silence as a mark of respect for former Mayor Keith Sharp, who passed away recently. His funeral will be held at St James Church on the 19th of July.

Foresight made a presentation about their work, which involves helping young and disabled people prepare for work and independent living. They plan to expand their operations into Louth in future, because currently they are based in Grimsby. They offer a range of courses and programmes centred on employment skills and matters such as money management, health, decision making, numeracy and literacy and confidence building.

Taxi Ranks

The position of the town centre taxi ranks came up for discussion at the council meeting. Councillors Jill Makinson-Sanders and Andrew Leonard suggested moving the ranks to Aswell Street, but no decision was taken and this is still under consideration.

Town Centre Upgrade

Grantham is due to begin a £1.6 million project to revamp its town centre market place. Other Lincolnshire town centres have benefited from regeneration funds from the county council. Councillor Makinson-Sanders asked whether Louth town centre could be given similar consideration.

It's tempting to grab every available pot of money in these straightened times. But regeneration projects have a way of turning into homogenisation projects, and it's important to plan carefully and protect Louth's unique identity. Development is no good if all we do is develop into yet another clone town.